How Some Short-Term Stress Could Improve Health and Slow Aging

April 10, 2022

by Cathe Friedrich

You might be conditioned to think of stress as harmful for your health. Certain types of stress, when prolonged negatively impacts health and well-being, but the effect stress has on your health may depend on how severe it is and how long the stress lasts. For example, going without food for 3 weeks would clearly be harmful to your health, but some studies show that fasting for shorter periods, 16 to 24 hours, may be beneficial in several ways.

It may turn out that brief exposure to stress is not only harmless but advantageous and could slow aging. Both cells and humans have pathways that protect against stress, and short periods of exposure to stimuli that could be harmful in large amounts or with long exposure, such as heat, lack of food, or cold, may be of benefit in small doses for the health of cells.

Excessive heat places stress on your body but if you sit in a sauna, you may be doing something good for your health. Research shows cardiovascular disease rates are lower in people who sit in a sauna several times per week. Keep in mind this study only shows an association between sauna bathing and heart health, not causation, but there are reasons sweating in a hot sauna could boost the health of one of your most important muscles, your heart.

Researchers propose that sauna bathing may improve heart health by:

Reducing arterial stiffness
Lowering Blood pressure
Improving endothelial function (how blood vessels respond to stress)
Reducing the activity of the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system

Exercise is Also a Type of Stress

Some experts believe one-way exercise provides health benefits is due to the short-term stress it places on your body. You feel that stress when you launch into a high-intensity interval session. In response to a sweat session, adaptations take place that benefits your health. Exercise places short-term stress on the body and improves long-term health and fitness.

Why does this occur? The answer lies with hormesis, the principle that when you expose yourself to mild doses of stressors our bodies mount an adaptive response to them. Hormesis applies not only to exercise but other activities that challenge our bodies.

The Possible Benefits of Short-Term Stress

So, now we know that in small doses, certain types of stress may be beneficial. One definition of hormesis is exposure to small doses of something that may be toxic at larger doses or if prolonged. In other words, small doses of something harmful or toxic have a beneficial effect on the body.

For example, studies in mice show that heat stress and calorie restriction can increase lifespan by 40%. This type of study is harder to conduct in humans, but scientists are reasonably sure that humans may enjoy similar benefits.

Stress, in the right dose, could even improve mental health short term. Studies show short-term exposure to stress boosts the release of endorphins, chemicals that reduce pain and increase feelings of well-being. The best example of this is the “runner’s high,” the pleasant feelings runners get when they run. Running is a form of stress, and endorphin release is a way to reduce the perception of how hard it feels to run. It’s an adaptation to stress that has a beneficial effect on your mood and mental health.

Exercise has benefits because it places stress on your body, and your body adapts in a way that makes it more resilient and resistant to stress in the future. According to one theory, it causes mild oxidative damage and the generation of cell-damaging free radicals. That might sound bad, but the stress of exercise also ramps up your body’s own antioxidant defense and repair system to fix the damage, and this strengthens your defense system against oxidative stress.

How Might Hormesis Slow Aging?

Aging begins at the cellular level, and factors like oxidative stress, environmental exposures, and inflammation play a role. Research finds that short exposures to cellular stressors that cause aging may have cellular benefits that slow aging. These include beneficial effects on mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of cells, proteins that clean up the damage, and the body’s ability to detoxify. Cells respond to cellular stressors by becoming more resilient.

The Dose of Stress Matters

Stress that may be harmful with a large exposure may be beneficial in small amounts by boosting a cell’s ability to repair. In turn, healthier cells mean slower aging. So, the frequency, timing, and type of stress matter. High-intensity exercise boosts oxidative stress short-term and ramps up the body’s ability to mend afterward. But suppose you do hours of high-intensity exercise without a break or do hours of high-intensity exercise every day. In that case, you will overwhelm your body’s ability to repair the damage, and it could accelerate aging.

The Bottom Line

Stress isn’t always harmful. Its effects depend on the type of stress, how long you’re exposed to it, and the dose. There is intriguing evidence that brief stress of certain types, like intense exercise, heat, and fasting, may improve cellular health and make them more resilient to damage. The phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” applies to aging too.

References:

FightAging.org. “Cellular Senescence is One of the Causes of Age-Related Decline of Liver Regeneration”
Radak Z, Chung HY, Goto S. Exercise and hormesis: oxidative stress-related adaptation for successful aging. Biogerontology. 2005;6(1):71-5. doi: 10.1007/s10522-004-7386-7. PMID: 15834665.
“Exercise-induced hormesis may help healthy aging.” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20221295/.
Harvard Health Publishing. “Sauna use linked to longer life, fewer fatal heart problems”
Rattan SI. Hormetic modulation of aging and longevity by mild heat stress. Dose Response. 2006 May 22;3(4):533-46. doi: 10.2203/dose-response.003.04.008. PMID: 18648625; PMCID: PMC2477195.
Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Willeit P, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort study. BMC Medicine. 2018;16(1). doi:10.1186/s12916-018-1198-0.